Wow, what a game. I had all but given up that anything was going to happen when Riske entered. It was nice to see the heart of the lineup come together for once to put the Tigers ahead in the ninth. Pudge had solid contact all day and it culminated in the three-run homer to bring Ordonez and Guillen home. This game brought back memories of last year where the Tigers depended on late inning heroics to win.

Today’s outing for Bonderman was pretty rocky but he brought some really good stuff from time to time. Ending with an impressive eight strikeouts but the Royals also left a large number on-base as well. Jeremy allowed only a single walk which was nice to see but the solo home run shot is becoming a bit too common for me. Mark Teahen was the most troublesome going 2-for-2 with a home run and an RBI double forcing the Tigers to intentionally walk him in his third at-bat with a runner in scoring position. When all was said and done Jeremy left the game with the Tigers in a winnable situation.

Following Bonderman the bullpen came in and did a bang up job for the first time this year. Newcomer, to the 25-man at least, Bobby Seay had a good first outing handing only a walk to DeJesus. Rodney started working his way out of his season-starting slump giving a strong inning with a single hit and a ground-out and two fly outs. Jones had his third shot at a save and came up solid as he has been so far this year. You can’t help but wonder when that will fall apart but so far he’s played tha part of veteran that Leyland wants him to be.

Thames had his first start of the year and brought two walks with the Royals obviously pitching him loosely knowing the power he has with such a close game. Overall the offense needs to get going a bit more. Inge made a few plays that we’ve come to expect but not every team can and that is certainly good to lean on. The defense seemed much more solid today and that is something that the Tigers will need to depend on as the year progresses.

While I don’t see the Royals being a winning powerhouse I am glad to get out of Kansas City with the series. We play them again real quick next week but first we will see the Orioles where we’ll likely face ex-Tiger Jamie Walker who has yet to give up a run.